Joe Carnahan, who proudly declares he lived and breathed the A-Team, is responsible for the film adaptation (in cinemas from 18 June) of the successful 1980s TV series. Nonetheless, with the clarity of an experienced professional who doesn't yield to emotions, he explains that his sentimental attachment to the cult series of his youth hasn't stopped him from acknowledging its inevitable limitations.

Of course, even legends have their time, and according to Carnahan the series has already dated. To begin with it's too camp, and therefore not at all in tune with the sensibilities of our austere times, which in contrast to the frivolous 1980s shun excess. It's also not believable: seen today, the adventures of Hannibal Smith and his friends put a smile on our faces, because as the director accurately observes, today's viewers are "much more cunning" than they were twenty-five years ago, when - let's admit it - we were all a little unwise regarding television.

Strengthened by these considerations, Carnahan prepares for the great reworking. He gives us proof of the moderate tone of the film by having an opening scene in which one of the protagonists, (un)dressed in a white bathrobe in the Mexican desert (the actor is pretty spunky), is about to be burnt alive in Giordano Bruno style by a no more identifiable general whose wife he has seduced. Given that today's viewers are not stupid by any means and don't lap up any old rubbish thrown at them, Carnahan utilises the crudest realism and shows our heroes as they abandon a plane in flight by - just as believably - jumping into thin air on a ...tank, which, thanks to a heaven-sent parachute, happily glides onto the waters of a pleasant German lake; of course as they fall "our" heroes successfully blow up a couple of fighter bombers using the tank's revolving cannon tower.

The list is long. But we'll limit ourselves to asking a question: without shamelessly admitting wanting to make a mere commercial product (and most remakes are nothing more than this), wouldn't it have been more dignified to declare, simply, the desire to revive an old TV cult for the public joy, giving it amazing special effects that were unimaginable at the time in terms of technology and budget? This is also because Carnahan's film, though undeniably camp and improbable (or perhaps because of this), is after all a successful entertainment.